The Iron Army
by Epictwist
Summary: Quincy Dean is a troublemaker even in terms of half camp-blood. Chiron doesn't know what to do with him, accept for putting him on an impossible quest.
1. Chapter 1

Prologue

As you, reader, know, the second War of the Titans was waged not so long ago. You know how Kronos finally fell to the sword of Percy Jackson. Typhon was finally foiled by the combined forces of the Gods and mortals, and a new agreement was reached. Now all the gods, major or minor, must claim their children by the time they are thirteen. We all know the story. But, Percy Jackson, the hero we have come to know and love, is not the main character of our tale. Instead, let me introduce to you: Quincy Dean, a lesser known hero, but one's whose feats are as great as Percy Jackson's.

Our tale begins late in the last battle of the second war of the Titans...

Quincy and Alijah gaped at the monstrosity before them.

"Well..." Alijah murmured in wonder. "I be glad dat de Great Typhon is on our side, eh mon?"

"Mm-hm. Camp Half-Blood is in for a lot of pain." Quincy replied. "But praise Gaia we're not on the receiving end."

"How do you suppose Kronos is doing? I mean, with de 'Chosen One' and all dat?" Alijah thought out loud.

"Well, seeing as how Jackson is a mere demi-god, and Kronos is a flippin' Titan, Jackson wouldn't last just five minutes with the guy."

"Heh. Yeah." Alijah smiled as they stared at the walking storm before them. "Mon, dat guy is huge! I mean wow! If dat doesn't take down Olympus, nutting will, mon."

"Straight up, brother." Quincy said smugly as he fist-bumped his good friend.

"Hey, Quince, mon?" Alijah asked. Quincey gave a humph in response. "Do you suppose dat, you know... we should get in on some of the action?"

Quincey turned his head to Alijah and cocked an eyebrow, saying "That's a nugatory, my friend. We were tasked with cleaning up all the ones that slipped through the first wave of our troops. Though I doubt they left that much to us. Shame."

"Exactly! So let's just walk on in dare like we supposed to be and join the attack party? It'll do no harm!" Alijah said.

"No, Alijah. Our job is to sweep up the mess the big guys make, and no matter how horrible that may seem, it's our job, and it's better to do our job then to go and piss off the big guys. Capuche?"

"But-"

"No."

"But-"

"No."

"Bu-"

"Alijah! Seriously? Your acting like your four! Now be quite, and let's watch Typhon destroy everything we can see, okay?" Quincy asked, annoyed.

The two stood silently, staring at the land barge walking his way top the Empire State Building. Then Alijah, having a short attention span, decided looking at his shoe might be a more entertaining prospect. He looked at his shoe, bringing all available attention to it and only broke his gaze when Quincy said in a disturbed whisper "What... in Hades?"

"Hm? What?" Alijah asked, tearing his gaze from his shoe.

"Did you just say 'What?' Tell me you do not sea the entire ocean ganging up on the demonic monster!" Quincy screamed.

"Huh..." Alijah said in wonder. "Well, would you look at dat?" Just as Alijah finished his sentence, one of there own soldiers ran past them, pale and almost crying in fear. "Wonder what _his_ problem is?"

Then a thunderous roar caused the earth underneath the two to tremble. "Hey, Alijah?" Quincy asked.

"Yeah?" Alijah replied.

"Remember what I said about the whole 'We won't get any of the action' thing?"

"Uh... yeah?"

"I think that was the worst underestimation I have made in my entire life." Quincey murmured as he held his spear in both hands.

"Oh sshhhhhii-"

Alijah's words were overrun with the intensity of the rumbling. As they raised their weapons a line of centaurs flew over a small hill made by the onslaught of their troops, and in a matter of seconds, the two were beaten and knocked out, not having the chance to fight.

_Chapter One_

_ Camp Half-Blood_

_ Two weeks after the battle..._

Quincy hadn't been this happy in a while. The taste of raspberries filled his mouth. He loved raspberries. He smiled and opened his mouth welcoming in some more. He let a string of yums leave his mouth. It was when he heard giggles that he remembered that his eyes were still shut. He snapped them open, and light stabbed him in the eyes. Blinking a few times, his vision began to clear. He squinted, looking at a pretty blonde giggling at him. He looked around at the room around him. Sunlight pierced into open windows, and at least a dozen other people his age were sleeping. Either this was the Elysium fields, or something was terribly, terribly wrong.

"Where am I?" Quincy asked quickly.

"What? Oh, yeah... you've been asleep for the past two weeks." The blonde girl said. "Please don't be alarmed... your at Camp. Camp Half-Blood."

Quincy stopped breathing. "What? Camp Half-Blood? How in Hades..." Quincy trailed off. Memories of the battle flashed through his head. _Did we lose?_ He thought, _No... Impossible... we couldn't lose... we had the most powerful being in creation on our side...no... I must've been captured! Captured by the centaurs!_

Quincy panicked. Looking around the room, he found the only thing that could be remotely used as a weapon. He grabbed it and raised it over his head, ready to chuck it at anything dangerous.

"I'm not going to tell you anything! Torture me all you want!" Quincy screamed.

"Please, put the cup down and let me explain! We aren't going to torture you..." The blonde said in a calm, pretty voice.

"Oh, I ain't gonna fall for that one my friend! Get away or this cup's going to be stained with blood!"

"Hey! We got another one!" The blonde yelled behind her. Two guys ran across the room, one slender, and handsome, with blonde hair and deep blue eyes, the other, large and burly, with raven black hair and a bloodthirsty glimmer in his eyes. Quincy quickly threw the cup at the two, missing horribly, and was pinned to the bed. The blonde one made a fist and landing it calculatingly, causing Quincy to once again black out.

...

Quincy's eyes fluttered open. Light sunk into them painfully. He put his hand up to his head and turned to look around the room. He kept turning until he saw a brown skinned guy, about his age with dreadlocks bundled at the back of his head. "Alijah?"

"Ah, my friend. You finally awake. 'Bout time. I was starting to think you'd pay up the ferryman." Alijah said in his Jamaican accent. "How is de head, mon?"

"Just peachy... and uh... I see you've made yourself at home." Quincy grinned as he looked at Alijah's hand. In it was a magazine, and a closer examination made it out to be a Playboy.

"Oh yeah." Alijah said with an even bigger grin.

"So... where the heck are we?" Quincy asked, holding his thumb and middle finger against his temples in an attempt to stop the throbbing.

"Oh... no where special, mon. Just Camp Half-Blood." Alijah said as he opened the magazine back up.

"Wait... I'm sorry." Quincy said. "Did you just say we were at Camp Half-Blood."

"Mhm. I am grieved to say it, but we lost the battle. Pretty badly, actually." Alijah said.

"Impossible!" Quincy started, his face turning an unnatural shade of red. "How could that happen? We had a God-buster right there! What could've possibly gone wrong? Huh? Tell me!"

"I tell you what went wrong, mon. Jackson. Here." Alijah sighed as he picked up a cup from the table beside Quincy's cot. "Drink dis. It'll make you feel bettah, 'kay, mon?" Alijah smiled.

Quincey took the cup unquestioningly and chugged what was in it; he was extremely thirsty. "Oohhh... that is great. What is that?"

"A special kinda ambrosia. Supah calming, yu get meh, mon?"

"Oh... just keep that coming and i won't even care about the whole 'losing the war' deal..." Quincy sighed in delight. Even his headache was being removed by the ambrosia, which, by all means, felt the best.

"So, you kay wit dat now, mon? For real? I tot you'd be whining sum mo'." Alijah laughed.

"Yeah, well... what're you gonna do? I thought I had picked the winning side, and as it turns out I didn't. Thankfully they let me into the winning side at the last moment." Quinsey smiled.

"Ah, dare yu are, mon."

"What? What are you talking about?"

"Cold. Cold an calculatin', yu dig? I tot dat when you woke up you would still be flippin' like a shark on da beach. Good to see you laid back an' all again, mon."

"Well, I tell you, Alijah... this is incredible... I feel like I could fly on clouds and have a tea party with the tellie-tubbies. It is that good." Quincy almost sang.

"Hey mon. No need fo you bein' a hog, now. Give yo best friend a drop o' two." Alijah reached his hand out and took the cup from Quincey, sipping moisily from the brim. "Mmm... Oh Great gran-mama's pastry... Heaven on Earth, mon. Heaven on de Earth." He sucked at the contents again, making a loud noise.

"Hey... that... that's mine... gimme..." Quincy moaned.

...

After the two drained a gallon of the sweet liquid, they were thrown out of the infirmiry to make room for more survivors of the battle. Quincy breathed in the fresh air. The warm sun on the body and the wetness of the deep green grass on his bare feet. With the effects of the ambrosia still lingering in his system, it seemed like the world had become the most beautiful place in the... well, world. Quincy lost all will to stand and bellyflopped on the dew ridden grass and began to roll around. Promptly, he was joined by his friend. "Ah, man, how long does this buzz last? Like a day?"

"More like tirty minutes, mon. So like it while you got it, 'kay?" Alijah sung.

"Ooh... I think I might just... sit here and... sleep..." Quincy mumbled as he fell into a light slumber.

...

The next thing Quincy knew, it was night time, and the two found themselves sleepily sitting at a noisy table full of young kids jumping and throwing and screaming and laughing. Regular kid stuff.

Quincy didn't like regular kid stuff. He sat at the table looking ahead of him, trying not to look at the youth in front of him chewing on the table. He focused instead on someone across from him. It was a guy with blonde hair and pale-blue eyes. The guy who knocked Quincy out hours ago. By that time, the ambrosia had worn off and he was feeling a little less good about the world. His eyes grew more and more angry at him, until he was finally noticed by the blonde guy.

"Did he just wink at me?" Quincy asked out-loud.

"Who be winkin', mon?" Alijah asked.

"That guy over there. That knocked me out." Quincy growled.

"Hey, don't get in no fight's now. Let me eat in peace, kay?"

"Who is that guy?" Quincy asked.

"Who, him?" a kid at their table spoke up. "That is Carl Hans. Real popular with the ladies. I wouldn't mess with him if I were you."

"Oh, wouldn't you?" Quincy grinned.

"Don't do it, mon. I'm serious. You do dat I ain't gonna be your friend no mo'." Alijah moaned. Quincy had gotten into a couple of fights before, which got him into trouble a lot more. Before Alijah could say another word, Quincy hopped off the table and walked calmly over to Carl. When he got there, Carl and his friends were laughing loudly."

"Hola." Quincy said stoically.

"Hm?" Carl looked up. "Oh, hey. Do I know you?"

"Yeah. We met earlier today." Quincy said.

"Oh yeah, you're they guy I knocked out!" Carl laughed and his friends followed. "Hey, it's good to meet you. I'm Carl Hans. Apollo. You?" he said, extending his hand for a hand-shake.

"The name's Quincy Dean. Unclaimed. And I'm left handed." Quincy smiled, extending his left hand.

"Oh, sorry bro." Carl said as he lifted his left arm to meet Quincy's. However, before their hands touched, Quincy brought his right fist into Carl's eye, making him double over.

"Oh, sorry bro." Quincy mocked. Carl's gang sat slack-jawed. A couple of them went to help Carl up. When Carl rose, blood was dripping from his face.

"What the Hades, man?" Carl yelled. " What was that?"

"That was a little something reserved for punk's like you, pretty-boy." Quincy smiled broadly. "And I got a little bit for all you Camp Half-Blood pieces of-"

"What is the problem?" Came a deep commanding voice. Quincy turned to see a centaur. Huge guy. Up top he had rippling muscles and a stern, yet soft face. The face you'd see on an old man who had been in a war. Or maybe a few hundred.

Quincy looked at Carl, smirking. Carl looked at Quincy with red hot anger in his eyes.

"Nothing, Chiron. Just a little disagreement." Carl Finally murmured.

"Do you have somewhere to be, boy?" Chiron asked.

Quincy turned to the centaur, straightened his back and saluted. "Sir, Yes sir!" He yelled and walked calmly back to the table of Hermes.

"Did you have to go and to go and do that? " Mr. D. asked Chiron as he sat back down in his wheelchair.

"Yes. I don't want fighting here this soon after the war. I don't even think we should hold Capture the Flag games. It could stir up trouble." Chiron said, staring out into the crowded tables.

"Yeah, but it so fun to watch them bicker amongst themselves. It always has been." Mr. D. smiled and chugged down a grape soda.

Chiron shook his head and poured himself a tall cool glass of water.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

Quincy found himself back at the Hermes cabin. It was noisy, messy, and smelled if burning rubber. He was sitting on the floor trying to drown out the sounds of boys and girls stealing each others stuff and pulling pranks on one another. Especially this one boy. Quincy didn't know his first name, but his last name was Collin, same as Alijah. He would've been in the bathroom, but it had been plugged up by some delinquent. The only obvious escape from Quincy's personal hell was to go outside.

Once outside, the fresh air seemed to invigorate him. He didn't like Camp Half-Blood, but the air and the food was pretty good. The darkness of night shrouded Camp Half-Blood, giving it an old-timey feel, with torches burning, Children of Hephaestos clambered around their work places, as streaks of light from torches shot out. It was peaceful out in the dark. Quincy started to walk away from the time-bomb that was Hermes cabin. He walked silently across the dark grassy fields, breathing the cool air in and out.

"You." A voice growled from behind Quincy. He turned to see it's owner. "You are dead." Carl said as he stormed to the spot where Quincy stopped walking.

"Oh, you're not still mad about that whole punching incident? I thought we would've called it fair by now. You know, eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth type of thing, right?" Quincy smirked. Some of Carl's buddies ran after Carl, begging him to stop.

"Stop, man! It's not worth it." One cried.

"You're just gonna get us into trouble!" another whined.

"Save it for the Game!" One said.

At this Carl stopped in his tracks and he started to grin wildly. "The Game…" He repeated slowly. "Listen here, chump. Tomorrow's Capture the Flag."

"Is it?" Quincy asked.

"Oh, yeah. And I am going to break you."

"At the Game, then?" Quincy said, extending his left hand.

"The Game." Carl said, raising his left hand before recognizing the move. Quincy gave a huge grin as Carl turned and walked away. Quincy knew what he had to do. He made a B-line over to the Hermes cabin. He weaved through the mess until he found Alijah.

"Hey, Alijah?" Quincy asked, "What do you know about Carl?"

"What, you talkin' about dat guy you punched, bra?"

"Yeah. What do you know about him?"

"Well now, let's see heeya. Son of Apollo, playa, archer, musician…" Alijah listed.

"Is he just an archer, or does he do any hand to hand combat?"

"No… I tink he just shoot's arrows. Why you be askin' me dese question's, mon?" Alijah asked.

"Oh, no reason. See you tomorrow…" Quincy winked and bunked down for the night, waiting for the next morning.

…

The next morning Quincy felt invigorated. He was ready to take on the world, or more specifically Carl Hans. Quincy took his plate of Scottish oatmeal (One of his favorites) and sat down next to Alijah.

"What are you doin' this fine morning, ole bean?" Quincy asked his friend.

"I'm just doin' what any healty young man my age would do." Alijah grinned. Quincy followed his gaze until he saw the Aphrodite Cabin's table.

"Uh-huh." Quincy said. He moved his eyes over to the Apollo table. There he found Carl with his arms around a girl with pink hair and a black leather jacket. "Hey." He poked Alijah, "Whose Carl's pet?"

"Oh, her? Bro, she be his girlfriend. Ares cabin, I tink. Penny sometink." Alijah informed.

"Oh…" Quincy muttered. "She's hot."

"Mon, you just askin' for trouble now, dog." Alijah laughed as he went back to staring at Aphrodite girls. Minutes later, however, a horn blast tore through the air.

Chiron got up from his wheel-chair, changed to his centaur form, and bellowed-"To the forest!" all the cabin's left their food and headed to the woods. Quincy followed along with the Hermes cabin to the edge of the forest. There, two cabin's walked to either side of the rest of the crowd gathered. One, Quincy figured, was Ares. Based on the fact that everything about them was bloody, from the color of their banner to the expressions on their faces. The other team was Athena, Goddess of wisdom and strategy. For some reason it just seemed natural that Athena fought against Ares. Two girls stepped out. One was tall, blonde and beautiful, with gray, stormy eyes and a wise look about her. She raised a sword and the crowd behind her lifted in cheer. On Ares side, a slightly smaller girl with dark red hair stepped out and raised her spear over her head. The Ares cabin gave a roar that would've paralysed a small child. The two met in the middle and pulled out a drachma. Chiron flipped it in the air. The red-head called heads, the blonde quickly claimed tails. The coin fell to the ground. After a second Chiron bellowed that it had landed on tails. The Athena cabin yelled once again.

"I choose Apollo!" The blonde cried. A chunk of the crowd drifted over to join the Athena cabin. Carl turned his face to Quincy, smiling dangerously. Quincy returned it with a quick wink.

"Hephastos!" the redhead commanded.

"Hermes!" Shouted Athena-girl, and Quincy froze. Were he and Carl going to be on the same team?

"Wait! Wait one minute!" The Ares girl yelled. " Hermes has way too many! Too many have been unclaimed! It's an unfair advantage!"

The blonde rolled her eyes. "Yeah, and you got Hephastos! Tell them to work double to make traps!"

"Chiron!" The redhead whined, "C'mon! You know what's fair." The centaur looked uncomfortable.

"The Hermes cabin shall split into two groups! One shall go with Ares, the other with Athena." Chiron spoke, as his eyes rolled to the heavens, as if asking for protection. They separated quickly. Half of the Hermes cabin thought needless violence was the way to go. The other half decided that brain topped brawn. As for Quincy, he wasn't ready to back down from a challenge. Joining Ares's side, he glanced at Carl. They were exchanging daggers.

"All right!" The redhead said. "Aphrodite."

The blonde grew an extremely big smile. "Poseidon!" she called.

_Wait, _thought Quincy, _Posiedon? That must mean… _Quincy looked over the heads of the crowd. He saw the redhead curse and the other team cheer. Then he saw him. Black, wavy hair, Greenish-blue eyes, tall, with looks that could melt any girl's heart. Jackson. The guy who made it all happen. The Big Cheese. How that made Quincy's blood boil. Now he had two targets. If Carl didn't make it through, Jackson sure as Hades would. A slice at him would make Quincy's day.

…

Quincy was put on patrol, guarding the flag. Just the job he wanted. All he had to do was wait for someone to cross him. He waited in a spot strategically chosen to hide him from sight. He sat and waited, excited, ready to take on anyone. Finally he heard the footsteps of some poor fool. He peeped out and found that it was none other than his good friend Carl. Quincy smiled. Carl looked at the flag, taking a look at his surroundings. Figuring that he had won, he proceeded. Surprise was now on Quincy's side. _And… here we go… _he thought to himself.

He slipped out of his hiding spot and tiptoed silently behind his pray. _Step number one: Take the weapon away from the target. Step two: Inform target that you are behind him. Step three: Beat crap out of target. Step four: Apply said beating liberally._

Quincy snuck his way to the back of Carl. With the stealth of a thief, he took the arrows out of Carl's quiver and held them tightly in his hand. His next move consisted of tapping Carl on the shoulder. Carl quickly turned around, his eyes growing wide. His arm flipped up as he drastically searched for an arrow. Quincy raised his hand to show him the arrows, then promptly slashed Carl's face. Carl fell to the ground with a cry. Quincy threw the arrows aside and kicked Carl down flat on his back. He put his foot on his victims breast plate, forcing him to stay down. Quincy reached for his helmet and slid it off his head, taking his foot off of Carl.

"Stand up." Quincy commanded. Carl, with his blood mixing with his tears, rose to his knees preparing to get up. Quincy hit Carl's helmet with his own, and Carl flew back down to the ground. "I said stand up, pretty boy." Quincy said in a smug voice, "Or do you need your friends to help you with that?"

Carl face squinted with pain and anger. He tried his best to try and stand again. Every time, however, Quincy walloped his helmet against his and knocked him down. Finally, when Carl no longer had the strength to get back up, Quincy grabbed Carl by the armor and pulled him to his knees.

"Nighty-night, Carl." Quincy smiled evilly. He dropped the helmet against Car's once more, and he finally fell unconscious. Quincy sniffed and threw his helmet to the ground. He turned to the flag and noticed someone running towards it. "Jackson!" Quincy yelled angrily.

Jackson glanced quickly at Quincy and uncapped the famous sword "Riptide." Quincy unsheathed his own sword and ran toward him. Jackson took his stance and readied Riptide. Quick seconds passed by before the two clashed swords. Metal against metal for what seemed a few seconds before Quincy had been unarmed and sent backwards, landing painfully onto the ground. His sat in wonderment before feeling the rush of cool water on his hand.

_What? _he thought to himself, _Somebody put the flag right next to the river? Seriously? What kind of complete idiot puts a flag near a body of water when the enemy is the son of Poseidon the water god? What is that? _

Quincy quickly turned to see Jackson walking calmly to the flag, as if the fight never happened. Anger welled up inside him. _All right... Jackson thinks that he won? Best use that to my advantage... _he thought. He silently got up and ran quickly, picking up his sword along the way. with the adrenaline already pumping through his veins, Quincy jumped in the air, landing on the shoulders of Jackson. Percy crumpled under the weight, and before he could do anything, Quincy had his sword at the back of Percy's neck.

"Who are you?" Percy asked.

"Who am I?" Quincy answered. "I am-ow!" He exclaimed. something had pricked him in the neck. Quincy slapped his hand back and pulled out a splinter. Quincy smelled the point. "Thorazine?" he asked himself, before dropping unconscious to the forest floor.

...

Quincy awoke with the feel of warm water on his hand and the feel of warm water on his crotch. "I'm in the Hermes cabin, aren't I?" quincy asked in disgust.

"Indeed you are, mon. Welcome back to de world of de living." The sound of Alijah's voice invaded Quincy's ears.

"Who won?" Quincy asked.

"Who do yu tink, mon? T'was Jackson and his girlfriend, a'course."

"Of course!" Quincy cried as he put on a false smile.

"But," Alijah continued, " Word be goin' roun' you gave Jackson a run for his money. Dat tru, bra?"

"I'm pretty sure it is. Who took me down?"

"Jackson's girl... Annabet her name was."

"Oh, I hate her already." Quincy said as he sat up. "You do have extra pants for me right?"

"Nope." Alijah smiled.

"Oh? Then I'll just take yours." Quincy smiled back.

Alijah's grin quickly straightened, "You jokin', ya mon?"

"Alijah, you and I both know that I only joke when I'm serious." Quincy answered.

...

Minutes later Quincy had a fresh pair of jeans and a smile on his face. They were at the dining pavillion, talking about nothing, when Quincy felt a strong hand on his shoulder. It lifted him off of the bench and turned him to face a rather beautiful looking woman, with short pink hair and an angry look on her face.

"You the one who beat up Carl?" she growled.

"Who, Baby-face? Well... Ex-Baby-face?" Quincy grinned. It earned him a hard punch in the face. The next thing he knew he was on the dirt ground. Alijah rushed to Quincy's aid. "Flank her." Quincy mumbled.

"What?" Alijah asked.

"_Flank. Her. _" he growled. Alijah finished helping Quincy to his feet before backing away slowly. "All right, chick. I don't know what your problem is, but I don't hit girls." Quincy pointed his finger at her. The girl slapped Quincy's finger away and kicked him in the gut, causing him to double over. Quincy opened his eyes to see a crowd had gathered around them. One blonde girl, Annabeth, stepped out into the kill zone.

"Stop!" she yelled, holding her hands out. She barely started another sentence when she was laid out. The crowd started coaxing the two to keep going at it. The pink haired girl stomped over to Quincey, picking him up by his collar and slamming her pretty fist in his face. Dazed, quincy hobbled back, cradling his face in his hands.

"Anytime, Alijah!" Quincey yelled. He heard a tackle, then looked out. Alijah had successfully executed Quincy's plan. Now it was Quincy's turn.

Penny jerked the kid off her and kicked him in the chest. He was out for good. She turned to finish the other guy, finding the tip of an arrow instead. The other guy was at the other end of it.

"Well..." Quincy smirked. "I knew Angel-Face was a pretty boy, but sending a girl to try to do his dirty work is just unsporting."

The girl gazed into Quincy's eyes, glowing a hearty shade of red, which unnerved him.

"You!" A familiar voice boomed. Chiron broke through the crowd and gave Quincy the stink-eye. "How many fights can you possibly get in in one day?" He scowled, "Come with me, now."

Quincy lowered his bow and walked toward the centaur. He turned to look at the cute girl, who was still staring at him with a fiery gaze


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

Mr. D. raised a bushy eyebrow. "Is it true you took down Jackson?" he asked. Quincy put his thumb and inch from his index finger. Mr. D. Laughed heartily. "Good! Very good!" he said in the middle of laughs.

"Sir..." Chiron interrupted. "This boy has gotten in three fights these past two days!"

"Four, technically." Quincy interjected, "Five if you count the infirmary, which I wouldn't actually call a fight."

Mr. D. gave another loud laugh. "I like this kid!" he said.

"Sir, I have concerns about his one." Chiron said sternly.

"Ah, you only don't like him because he beat Jackson." Mr. D. sneered.

"Not only that," Chiron continued, "But he has not been claimed yet. The deal with the gods was that all would be claimed by the time they turned thirteen. Mr. Dean here is fourteen." Chiron pointed at quincy.

"Fifteen, centaur." Quincy corrected.

"Then whose child are you?" Chiron grunted.

"Well, I don't know. Really. Don't you know?" Jackson asked, turning to the only god in the room.

"Me? Oh, quite possibly. I know a lot." Mr. D. smiled. "But I can't say who your divine parent is. That's against the rules."

"What rule?" Quincy asked.

"The one that says that I cannot tell you in any way, shape or form."

"Can't you ask my parent? How hard would that be?" Quincy asked in an irritated voice.

"All right, Dean, I'll ask." Mr. D. said. He sat in his folding chair and put his hands together, turning his eyes skyward. He did this for thirty seconds, and neither Chiron nor Quincy spoke. Mr. D. blinked and smiled at Quincy.

"Well?" Quincy asked hopefully.

"Nothing." Mr. D. said. "Mostly because of the big guy."

"Who, Zeus?" Quincy asked.

"No. But he can easily be misconstrued as Zeus."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Quincy asked, "Does it mean that it isn't zeus, it's just someone that looks alot like him?"

"That's a good way to put it." Mr. D. nodded.

"And this guy is my dad?"

"In a way."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Quincy asked, growing more annoyed by the second.

"Well, I believe it's a yes, but not in the way that you think is a yes."

"Stop playing this game with me! Who is my parent?!" Quincy yelled.

"Don't raise your voice at me, boy." Mr. D. threatened as he raised the can to his mouth. Quincy lost control of his temper and smacked the cup out of the god's hand. Before a second passed he found himself being wrapped by grape vines. "Idiot, boy. I am a god, no matter if I am exiled or not." Mr. D. growled. He lifted himself of his chair, growing in height. His face and body grew more slender and muscular, "And you will do well to remember it." He said in a deeper, yet elegant voice. His eyes grew a light shade of purple, as the sun started to cloud over with dark clouds. Thick vines began to grow around Quincy's neck.

"Dionysis," Chiron called. "You would also do well to remember _your _place."

Mr. D. glared at Quincy, his eyes burning brighter, now almost a blinding white light. He gave a horrible look at Quincy, then smiled. Clouds began to clear, the vines shrunk away from quincy's body and Mr. D. changed back into his original form.

"I have grown tired of this." Mr. D. sighed. He sat back down in his folding chair and opened another can of soda. "What do you propose we do with this boy, Chiron?"

The centaur looked at Quincy and pondered what punishment would be best. "I say," He spoke after a moment, "That we should put him on a quest."

Mr. D. smiled. "What a good idea, Chiron. A quest. And I believe I have just the thing for Mr. Dean." Mr. D. heaved himself from his chair and waddled to the inside of his cabin and waddled back out. Quincy would've laughed if he hadn't been half throttled seconds ago. He held a scroll in his chunky hand. Opening it, he read aloud, "Through the air and the desert they shall go, The great winds of destiny shall blow, an army of iron rises from the dust, the sculptors sword you must finally thrust."

Quincy stared at the god. "Don't I have to go see an oracle or something for a quest?"

"What? Boy, I am a god! I don't need some hormonal teenager telling everybody what to do! I can see into the future just as easily. If not easier." Mr. D. sneered. "Now, you have your quest. Shoo. I have important business." he said, putting the scroll down and lifting a pack of cards.

"But who are the other two?" Quincy asked.

"You pick. Stop bothering me." Mr. D. snapped.

"So I can bring anybody I want."

"Yes." Mr. D. said, putting his cards down. "Yes, you can."

"All right!" Quincy exclaimed, "I want Alijah Collin, Hermes cabin."

"That's nice." Mr. D. said, rolling his eyes and picking up his deck of cards again.

"-and... oh, what's her name..." Quincy said. "Ah, yes. That chick I was fighting outside. Penny Rose? I think?"

Chiron watched, puzzled, as Mr. D. started laughing loudly. Before long Mr. D. looked at Quincy's face. "Oh. You're serious?" He asked.

Quincy nodded. "Yep."

"Well," Mr. D. started laughing again, "You are certainly a glutton for punishment, boy."

"And, um... something else."

"And what would that be, boy?"

"Some of that really swell ambrosia juice you have going around. You know, the kind that kind of gives you a buzz?" Quincy grinned.

"If I say yes will you leave?" Mr. D. asked. Quincy nodded enthusiastically. "Fine. Go. Get out and go on your stinkin' mission." Mr. D. said. He took up his deck of cards and proceeded to shuffle. Quincy smiled and walked off the porch to find all the supplies he needed.

"Was that a real quest, or one you just made up?" Chiron asked. Mr. D. Shrugged.

"Guess we'll find out if he get's back." He said, sipping his grape soda.

...

"And you wanted to bring Penny Rose, mon? Heh, you crazy." Alijah sighed. Quincy and he were packing backpacks for their quest. "Why?"

Quincy stuffed supplies in his backpack. "Because, my dear Alijah, it'll just piss off Carl, which gives me the best entertainment I've had since, well, the last time I pissed off Carl."

"So, you want entertainment, but at de risk of your life. You are crazy, mon."

"I may be crazy, but isn't it always the crazy people who get ahead in the world?"

"Sure, mon, sure. You gonna tell Penny Rose, am I right about dat, mon?" Alijah asked.

"I suppose you want do it? You know, because you're my best friend and all?"

"How 'bout I go wit you? Only I'll be fifty feet away, kay?"

"Coward." Quincy said.

"Crazy person." Alijah retorted.

The two looked at each other, waiting for one to back down. "Fine." Quincy finally said, "I'll go. You better be ready to bring some back up, though. And I ain't talking about those piddly things. I mean the big ones."

Alijah nodded, satisfied, and the two went out to search for Penny Rose, daughter of Ares.

...

Penny sat next to Carl, leaning on his capable shoulder, staring at the glimmering lake located in the middle of camp. She loved days like this. Carl sang a romantic song while satyrs and nymphs chased each other around the water. She shifted her head to look at Carl's face. It was bruised and broken from the fight with the Titan kid, Dean. She gently reached his cheek and rubbed a scar. Carl took her hand and kissed it, making Penny to smile uncontrollably.

"Aw, isn't that sweet?" a voice taunted. Penny turned quickly to see Dean himself, smiling slyly, the evening sun putting a mischievous twinkle in his brown eyes. He winked at Penny.

"What do you want, Dean?" Carl asked in an agitated tone.

"Me? Oh, nothing much. All I want is your girlfriend." Dean said. His grin widened, as Penny's jaw dropped.

"What?" she asked, "What did you just say?"

"Hm... I think I might of phrased that badly. What I meant to say was that I need your girlfriend on a quest that i have been given."

"Who would give _you _a quest?" Carl sneered. "I wouldn't trust you enough to scrub a toilet."

"Oh, a certain god. Only the best for me."

"I am not going with you." Penny objected, "And I don't care if Zeus himself came down from Olympus and told me to."

Carl stepped forward, "She's not going with any traitor like you. If you even so much as touch her-"

Quincy shook his head, his grin growing every minute. "Carly, I can not understand why you would want to threaten me. If I were you, I would be hiding behind your girlfriend."

Penny had heard enough. She stepped quickly over to Quincy, her fist hardening. She stopped when she saw another kid come from behind Quincy. He had chocolate skin and dreadlocks. And a sawed off shotgun in hand.

"What the Hades is that?" Penny said, taking a step back.

"_That _ is my main man Alijah Collin, and _that_," Quincy pointed directly at his friends gun, "Is Phillis, our muscle."

Carl eyed the weapon. "A-are you threatening me Dean. I, er, don't respond well to threats." He stuttered out.

"All right," Penny spoke, before Quincy responded, "I'll come with you, but you have to swear, on the River Styx, that you won't hurt Carl anymore."

"Penny!" Carl objected, "You don't have to do that! I can take care of myself!"

"Like the last two times?" Quincy taunted.

Penny pointed toward Quincy, "Be quiet, Dean," she said, "Or _I_ will punch you out myself."

Quincy fell silent, but still grinned. He folded his hands behind his back, and lowered his head in agreement.

"I'll meet you at the mess hall." Penny said calmly. "I need to go pack."

...

Carl followed Penny to her cabin, asking why she decided to go with Quincy.

"Because I love you Carl. I love you and I don't want you to get hurt." she reasoned.

"I could take Dean! Really!" Carl protested. "Him and his friend. Just don't go!"

Penny opened the door to the Ares cabin and walked in. "Carl, I can take care of myself." she said as she went to her bunk. She pulled out a duffel bag, and started to put objects in it.

"I don't like Dean." Carl murmured.

"Nobody likes Dean." Penny responded. She drug two katanas from the side of her bed and stuffed them into the duffel, "Except his boyfriend, obviously."

"You'll be safe?" Carl asked. walked out of the cabin, and to the mess hall.

Penny stuffed a pack of knives next to the katanas. "Oh yeah. I'll be safe." Penny stuffed the rest of the duffel full of clothes. She stood up, putting on her leather jacket and her "special glove." She turned around into the arms of Carl, who pulled her close and kissed her. Penny pulled out and smiled. "I'll be back," she said.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

"What do you mean 'I have no idea?'" Penny yelled, "Didn't Mr. D tell you where to go?"

Quincy looked away. "He didn't exactly make that point clear... exactly..." he admitted.

"Well, whot did 'e say, mon?" Alijah asked.

"Something about going through the air and desert. That's about how far it goes giving any direction at all." Quincy said.

Penny looked at Quincy, her eyes started turning red. "You..." she started, then stopped. No words could come out of her mouth she was so angry.

"Now calm down, Rose. We'll figure this out. Just... don't kill me. Okay?" Quincy said as he started to back away from Penny.

"Alright, stop your goofin, gir', we got a mission to do heah." Alijah spoked, putting a hand on her shoulder. Penny snapped almost mechanically, twisting Alijah's arm in an uncomfortable position.

"That's enough." Quincy said, "Don't make me hurt you."

Penny let go of Alijah's arm and turned her attention to Quincy. "What do we do, then? Huh? Where do we go?"

Quincy nodded and folded his hands behind his back. He closed his eyes and puckered his lips. Penny looked at him curiosly, waiting for him to say something. "Does he want a kiss?" she asked.

"No, he just doin' his ting, y'know? Tinkin' 'bout our problem. Real hard." Alijah said, massaging his shoulder. "He real smart, y'know?"

Penny looked at Quincy again. He seemed to be concentrating real hard; his eyebrows tensed and knitted together, his head started turning left and right, and his eyes were working quickly behind his eyelids. Then he smiled.

"All right, lady, gentleman, I believe I have found the solution. We have to go in the air. On plane or pegasus, I don't think it matters, and we have to travel to the most inconvenient desert in North America. Childsplay." He grinned, lifting his backpack, "So which shall it be? Plane or pegasus?"

Penny's jaw dropped, and her eyebrows knitted together. "Are you crazy, Dean?" she asked, "You just pulled that out of thin air! I mean 'inconvenient desert" what is that? I don't even know! This is stupid! I am going back to my cabin and leaving you two nitwits to kill yourself." Penny ranted. "Goodbye!" she grunted before turning swiftly and stomping away.

"You know, you're probably right. This probably is impossible." Quincy said. "You know, that's a funny word impossible. That's what they called Heracles's tasks. Impossible. But he did it anyways, didn't he? Now he's one of the most famous Demi-gods in the world. Oh, and then he became a god, I think. So yeah, let's just skip out on this impossible mission, and kick our feet up. Yep, that sounds like a good idea, don't you think, Alijah?" Quincy turned to his friend.

"Oh, yeah, mon. Who wants to be a god? Not me, mon."

Penny stopped in her tracks and tensed. "Which desert?" She asked before long.

"I believe the most inconvenient one would be the Mojave desert. California." Quincy said. "Hottest desert in the U.S. of A."

Penny turned and walked toward Quincy. "We take planes. I don't like pegasi." She spoke.

"All right!" Quincy hopped, "We got us a quest to do! Let's go!"

...

The three sat on a bench, waiting for their plane to get ready. They sat in quiet for a long while, looking at random people in the room, until Quincy spoke.

"I'm hungry." he said.

"Hey, me to, mon." Alijah concurred.

"It's too bad we wasted all our money on the tickets, isn't it?" Penny said.

"Alijah, do we have any spare change?" Quincy inquired of his friend.

"We will soon..." Alijah grinned, jumping off of the bench.

"Is he going to steal money?" Penny asked.

"Maybe. I don't know, why don't you go and ask him?" Quincy retorted.

Penny scowled at Quincy. "We can't do that!"

"Oh, and why not?"

"Because it's not the right thing to do!"

"And how do you expect us to get any more money? Hm? Beg for it? Chick, I am a frikkin' demigod, okay? I may not know who my divine parent is but I do know I would bring great dishonor to him or her if I did beg. The same with you and Ares, if I think I know gods good enough."

Penny glared at Quincy, smacking him hard across his face. Quincy held his cheek and glared back. "I'm going to get Alijah." She said. She straightened her jacket and went off in search of Alijah, leaving Quincy alone on the bench.

...

Alijah walked proudly with a smile on his face. In his mind, being a son of the thief god made it all right to steal from people. He glanced over the crowd he had slunk into to see the perfect target. He spotted a pack of boys with uniforms from some private school talking and joking with each other. Perfect he thought to himself. Not only were these kids rich, but they distracted each other like they trained to be suckers. He walked toward them looking ahead completely, not making any eye contact. He walked swiftly, but with no sign of panic in his walk. He gently bumped into one, slipping his hand into the kid's pocket, grabbing the first thing he felt. "Oh, I'm surry, mon." He apologised as his hand slipped away from the kid's pocket.

"Yeah, no problem." The kid smiled back. Alijah pocketed the kid's wallet and walked on to find his next target, however, it wasn't too long before he was shoved from behind. He turned around angrily only to be hit in the face. Alijah felt liquid running from his nose. The boy who he had stolen from had quickly found out that Alijah had stolen his wallet, and was out for revenge.

"Where's my wallet, punk?" The kid asked angrily. His friends lifted Alijah off the floor and held him in place.

"I don't know watchoo talkin' 'bout, mon." Alijah said, receiving a punch in the stomach.

"Boys, check his pockets. I've got a feeling that he has something of mine." The kid sneered. His cronies invaded his pockets, searching for the wallet while Alijah's nose dripped a steady stream of blood onto the floor.

"Got it, Charlie." One finally said as he triumphantly held out the kid's wallet.

Charlie extended his hand. "Good work Johnny. Real good." He said, "Now I think I ought to teach this riff raff about stealing, don't you boys?" His henchmen chuckled as Charlie took off his expensive looking jacket. "Hold him steady now boys," He said smoothly, "I don't want blood all over this nice floor. He lifted his plump fist, prepping his muscles for a jab at Alijah's ribs. Alijah closed his eyes tight, ready for pain to break out all over his body.

But before any pain began, he heard a fist connecting with a body. He squinted one eye to see what had just happened, and saw a blur of pink flip a body down to the ground. After opening his eyes wider, his vision cleared. Penny stood before him, at full height with a frightening look on her eyes. She cracked her knuckles in both hands looked at the gang of boy's.

"All right fella's. Let my friend go, or else you're gonna spend a lot of time in the hospital." She warned. One boy ran to her with his fist soaring to her face. She effortlessly blocked the attack and countered by ramming her hand in his gut, then grabbing his arm and flipping him on his backside. "Do any of you other fine gentlemen want to have a go?" She smiled coldly as her eyes burned with a blood-red hue.

"Oh, damn! She's the freakin' devil!" Johnny gasped. Alijah felt the hands holding him in place loosen.

"No..." She growled, "I'm much, much, worse."

The boys ran away, leaving their two comrades behind. Alijah smiled weakly before collapsing to the ground. His stomach still burned and his nose bleed grew worse by the minute. "Come on..." HE heard Penny say. She lifted Alijah by his arm and slung it over her stern shoulders. "So was all this worth all the money that was in one kid's pocket?" She asked with a knowing smile.

"What, All dat fo' one wallet. No, girl. But it was wort four o' dem, y'now?" He smiled.

"What does that mean?" Penny inquired. She helped Alijah along back to the bench.

"Well, while all four o' dem kids were diggin' in my pockets, I was diggin' in dem pockets, y'know?" Alijah said proudly. Penny frowned, pursing her lips and looking for where Quincy was supposed to be sitting.

"So... Alijah? Why didn't you use your gun?" She asked.

"Pullin' a gun out in da airport maybe not bein' the best idea, eh Penny?" Alijah replied.

"Oh, yeah." Penny said. "I guess we're lucky metal detectors can't detect celestial bronze." She added.

"Yeah, I guess so." Alijah remarked. He took his free hand and pinched his nose together.

...

Quincy relaxed on the bench, letting all the thoughts of today churn and mix in his mind. All about the prophecy, what they should have for lunch, and especially what that lady was doing staring at him. He looked suspiciously at her. She had extremely pale skin; like the sun had never touched her skin. She had huge sunglasses over her eyes and a large floppy hat which she had stuffed all her hair into. Her head was attached to a smooth, elegant neck. It would have been easy to think of her as a southern belle or maybe royalty. Quincy and the mysterious woman took turns looking each other over. Quincy scanned her, everything from her flowery dress to her colorful hat and down to her fashionable shoes. Quincy couldn't quite put his finger on it, but something was terribly wrong with this woman. She looked back at him and closed her lips up tight, then quickly looked at the clock.

Quincy looked at the clock as well. Time had tiptoed sneakily passed him, as he found that he had been playing the staring contest with the strange woman for an hour and a half. He looked around behind him, scanning the crowd for his companions. They only had twenty minutes before the plane left, and Quincy wasn't about to leave without backup.

Finally, blundering out of the seamless crowd, there stood Penny, holding Alijah steadfastly on her shoulder. Oh hades. He thought to himself, What did she do to him? He folded his arms across his chest, ready to embrace a verbal assault.

"And, er, what happened here, Rose?" Quincy asked.

"Well, Alijah stole from the wrong guy and almost got himself beat into a bloody pulp." She said, "By your command." She scowled.

"But I got de money, mon." Alijah said, holding his nose and reaching for his pockets. He pulled out several expensive looking wallets that seemed extremely plump.

"Not bad, amigo. Not bad at all." Quincy beamed, taking the wallets and opening them excitedly.

Penny looked at Quincy in disbelief. She scowled and set down Alijah before leaning in close to Quincy's face.

"What is your problem?" She growled. "Your best friend is bleeding to death and you're concerned with money?"

"Oh, he'll be fine. He's half god, in case you didn't know, and really, I would like it if you got out of my face before I feel tempted to kiss you." Quincy replied.

Penny reeled away from Quincy quickly and focused her fire red eyes on him.

"And got those looked at." Quincy continued. "I don't want to catch a disease that turns my eyes bloody."

She gritted her teeth and turned toward Alijah. "What is his problem." She spat out, "I can't believe how arrogant and-"

"He likes you, girl." Alijah said. "He just be flirtin' wich yu."

"Oh, gods." She said.

"Oh yeah. Dat's his charm turned up. Is it workin' yu tink?"

"Absolutely not." Penny murmured. "I want to murder him."

"Ah, denial." Alijah chuckled quietly.

Penny turned quickly, "What was that?" Penny asked angrily.

"Nuttin'" Alijah said quickly before pinching his nose harder and turning up his nose. "Oh, dis bleedin' nose gonna be de death of me." He shuddered.

"Come here, let me take a look at it." Penny ordered. She took Alijah's head and turned it up to the ceiling. She looked at his nose and whistled.

"Dat bad?" Alijah asked.

"Yeah, well, it is pretty bad. It's a shame that Carl isn't here. He could fix this up no problem." Penny smiled thinking about him.

"Yeah, he sounds like a saint, girl." Alijah rolled his eyes.

"Oh, shush. He's nice. A lot nicer than Quincy."

"Quincy's an okay guy, mon." Alijah said. "'E's just too smart fo his own good, y'know?"

"Sure." She said sarcastically. She worked with his nose for a while moving it back into place. Alijah moaned in pain as his nose popped and snapped into place. "There. Done." She nodded. She let go of his head, as Alijah bent over and breathed in.

"Oh... tanks for your help, Penny. 'Preciate." He said, cradling his nose and gasping for air, tears appearing at the corners of his eyes.

"No problem, Alijah. My pleasure." She replied, staring at the back of Quincy's head.

Quincy scanned over the benches, where the woman was but there was no sign of her at all. She had disappeared during the mere seconds he was talking to his friends. He recalled her image in his head and pondered it, still believing something was off about her. He closed his eyes and fell into his meditative state. His happy place where he went to think. His brain went from zero to one hundred in seconds. He could feel his eye moving at a rapid pace inside his head. Who was that woman? he thought, Why was she staring at me? He pondered the questions hard, his brain whizzed by theories and hypothesis. His mind blocked out everything until he felt a rough shove.

His eyes flew open as he wobbled to keep his balance.

"Let's go, Dean." Penny urged. "Were leaving for the plane."

"Oh good." Quincy said. "Let's move out, troops." He reached for his pack as Alijah waited for him. "And how are you feeling?"

"Good, mon. How you doin'?" Alijah asked back. Quincy slung his pack over his shoulder.

"I think that maybe we're being followed."

...

Quincy took the aisle seat, saying that it was the most strategic choice, while Alijah sat in the middle seat separating Penny from Quincy. Penny stared out the window, wishing she was elsewhere. So far, she thought, the entire quest was a failure. She doubted Quincy's entire sanity, she doubted eithers fighting skills and she doubted whether or not this quest was actually real. She could've just been getting kidnapped this whole time and she hadn't even noticed. She looked at the two seated beside her, then decided it was foolish that these two could ever hatch a plan this complex just to kidnap her.

"So, Dean, what are we going to do once we get to Las Vegas?" Penny asked.

"Well, Rose," Dean replied, looking at a brochure, "We have some money that we can spend..." He Grinned wildly.

"Not a bad idea, mon." Alijah said.

Penny rolled her eyes and looked back down to the ground. The Fasten Your Seatbelts sign flickered on and the cabin filled with a rustling noise as the passengers buckled away. The plane lurched forward as the engines hummed on and vibrated the whole cabin. The scene outside her window blurred faster and faster until the plane lifted gracefully into the sky. Penny unbuckled her belt once she felt the pressure of lift off wear off.

...

Alijah had fallen asleep, snoring lightly to himself, while Quincy and Penny talked over him.

"So..." Quincy started, "How's life."

"Other than being stolen from my friends by a couple of insane boys to find an "inconvenient" desert? It's peachy." Penny said sarcastically.

Quincy nodded. "You know, you didn't have to come."

"You had a gun."

"I didn't have a gun, Alijah did."

Penny turned her head up to the heavens. "Thank you for straightening that out, Dean. Really appreciate it."

"Your welcome, chick."

Penny turned her head sharply. "What is your deal, Dean?" She asked angrily, "The titans get put back into their place and you still act like the war is on."

"The battle was lost, Rose. The war will continue even after you and I die. It's the irrefutable rule of higher beings, really. At some point the Olympians will meet their match, and be replaced by beings even more egotistical and foolish." Quincy said calmly, "It's going to happen. It might not have happened with the titans, but at some point, the gods are going down."

"How can you do that?" Penny asked.

"You've left your participle dangling, chick." Quincy answered smartly.

"How can you insult the beings that brought into existence?" Penny corrected.

"Because it's true. And what have they ever done for me?" Quincy argued, "Sure they brought me into this world, but what did they do after that? Jack-squat, that's what. I don't even know who my divine parent is." he confessed.

"What? What are you talking about?" Penny inquired. "The deal made with the gods say that anyone who turns twelve-"

"Do I look like I'm twelve, Rose?" Quincy interrupted. He looked down, almost like he was embarrassed. "It didn't say anything about anyone over the age of twelve. Not that my parent would want to claim me. After all, I was fighting on the wrong side of the war."

Penny felt sorry for Quincy. She had been claimed a couple of years before the war, and she remembered how proud she was that she wasn't an Aphrodite or Hermes kid.

"I'm sorry..." She said quietly.

"Why are you apologizing?" Quincy scoffed, "You're not my parent. It's not your fault I was brought up by a bunch of..." He veered off.

"What?" Penny asked.

"People." Quincy stated simply. "I don't want to call them less than that because they did more of a job raising me than any god did."

Penny frowned. "Were you raised by your father?"

"No, he sent me to an orphanage. Didn't want me around after he got engaged." Quincy reminisced. "Then I got picked up by a young couple who adopted me because they couldn't have kids, then by some miracle they started having kids and the sort of forgot about li'l ole Quincy." He smiled, then continued, "But, one fateful afternoon, while I was watching my little sisters as they played at the park, I was attacked by a rather large fury. I was, thankfully saved by Alijah. He shot down the fury, and we discussed the magical world that until recently I had no idea existed. Then he asked me if I would care to join the Titan's army."

"You said yes?" Penny asked.

"Not at first, no." Quincy explained, "I went back to the home I lived in, and I thought that I could forget about the whole thing. But, something at the back of my mind kept me thinking. Finally I decided to join the army. I ran away and caught up with Alijah. Then one thing lead to another and..."

"Here you are." Penny said.

"Here I am." Quincy agreed. He fiddle with his thumbs, keeping his eyes off of Penny. "Well... goodnight!" he said quickly before turning over.

Penny to, turned around and stared out the window. The black night blanketed around the plane as stars speckled the sky, and pale blue moon shined brightly. She turned her head slowly, but saw a strange object soar past at the corner of her eye. She looked back at the window. Seconds later another object swiftly glided by.

"What the..." she started before one of the object's hit the wing. The cabin shook and tilted sideways. Penny quickly looked out the window again and gasped.

"What's wrong?" Quincy yelped. Alijah jerked awake.

"The right wing of the plane is gone." She murmured. "Something is outside the plane."

"Ladies and gentlemen," the pilot's voice cackled over the radio, "we are experiencing turbulence...er... please remained seated and keep calm..."

"We in trouble, mon! We in trouble!" Alijah shuddered. The cabin kept leaning, as the sign to fasten seatbelts lit back on. A terrible thunk erupted from the ceiling, as spikes drove through the roof effortlessly, dragging it until a large chunk ripped off the plane. Every person in the plane screamed in horror, as a few of the unlucky ones who neglected to put on their seatbelts flew out of the whole. Others who were able to stay on the floor got up and started to run to the opposite side of the cabin. Another set of spikes erupted from the wall behind the trio and scraped until another chunk ripped off. Another set of people were sucked out of the cabin and went screaming into the crisp black night.

Wind screamed around Quincy. "Hold on!" he yelled, "I'll think of something!" He could barely see now that the wind was so strong that if he kept his eyes open for seconds the would dry. The plane was almost exactly sideways, and screams of men and women would still be heard, mixed with the howling of the wind.

Quincy forced his eyes open, looking at his surroundings. Alijah yelled as penny was tensed in her chair. He turned his head, and in the moonlight he saw a flight attendant walking towards them, although she was walking on a vertical surface. She had three things in her hands, which Quincy decided were parachutes.

"These are for you." She said, and although she only spoke, Quincy heard her soft voice loud and clear through the moaning of the wind.

"What about these people?" He screamed back at her, trying to be heard over the wind.

"They will be taken care of, Quincy. Quickly, go." She said before turning and walking back down the aisle. Quincy passed the two remaining parachute towards his companions.

"Put them on!" He yelled, "Before we crash!" The three struggled briefly with the parachutes.

"How do we get out?" Alijah screamed.

Quincy smiled. "Easy!" He climbed up onto the chairs and to the hole in the ceiling. He saluted to his friends and jumped out.

Alijah looked at Penny. "Ladies first!" he yelled. Penny rolled her eyes and climbed to the hole, jumping out. Alijah looked at the cabin around him. All that were left were people buckled down onto their seats, eyes shut closed and screaming uncontrollably. Alijah forced his gaze away from the helpless people and jumped out of the hole in the ceiling, quickly unfurling the parachute behind him. He felt the parachute lift him suddenly before calmly setting him slowly to the ground. He breathed a sigh of relief as he whispered a quiet "Thank you," to any god that happened to be listening. A sudden pull on the parachute frightened him however. He looked up and saw the silhouette of some flying thing that had caught itself in the parachute. It pulled Alijah along quickly, silently hissing as it seemed to glide. Alijah panicked and quickly pulled out a celestial bronze knife he kept on his person. He quickly cut the strings that connected him to his parachute, quickly falling, but not before being hit in the face with the beast's spiny tail.

...

Penny did her best to turn and look at the falling plane. Dark objects circled around it as vultures would circle around a carcass, and they would strike it with their tales once in a while, tearing off pieces of the hull. It finally crashed, as Penny shut her eyes, trying not to imagine what happened to the people on the plane. She landed harshly on the ground and laid there, staring at the twinkling stars. It was so peaceful at that moment that Penny wondered if any of the things that had transpired had actually happened. She lay there silently until her eyes shut and she dreamed of being back at Camp Half-blood, back with her brothers and sisters and Back with Carl, in his embrace.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Quincy felt the hot sun settle on his face. As his eyes opened, he could see a cloudless blue sky that stretched before him seemingly endlessly. He pulled himself off the ground, unbuckled the parachute and dusted himself off. The sun beat down on him, sapping away any energy. He looked across the flat surface of the desert, searching for signs of either of his friends. At a distance he saw a tuft of pink ripple in heat waves. He trudged over to the pink smudge at a slow walk, so he could conserve his energy.

She was passed out on the desert floor, lips chapped and sweat appearing on her forehead. Quincy looked down at her. "Hey." he said. "Wake up." She didn't stir. "Chick. Seriously, let's go." He said again. "I don't want to wait around here forever, chick, let's go."

She still did not move. Quincy began to worry. "Rose? Get up." He said. She remained in a lifeless form. Quincy knelt down beside her. "Penny?" He asked gently. He pushed her gently in the arm. When he received no movement he checked for a pulse, and, much to his delight, a faint beat from her heart still swept through her body. A sigh of relief emerged from his dry lips.

"All right, Penny. Let's get you out of the sun." He stood up again and looked all around him. In the far distance he could see a trail of smoke in contrast to the great blue sky. He smiled. He bent down and heaved Penny's limp body onto his shoulder.

"Dang, Penny," He moaned, "How much do you weigh?" He struggled off into the direction of the smoke, hoping it wasn't as far off as it seemed.

...

Penny felt coolness on her face, fighting with the heat on the rest of her body. She lifted one eyelid, staring at the figure of Quincy. "Where am I?" She wheezed.

Quincy turned around almost as if he was startled. "Oh, Penny." He chuckled. "Scared me for a second, there."

She looked around her. Wreckage of the plane surrounded her, waves of heat bouncing off everything in sight. "Where am I?" She repeated, "And what do I have to do... to get some water around here?"

Quincy took a water bottle and tossed it next to Penny. "Don't drink it too fast. Baby step's, all right?"

Penny quickly took the bottle, drinking a few gulps. "Oh!" she yelped, "This water is hot!"

"Yeah, Sherlock. We're in the desert, if you hadn't noticed. Water don't stay cool by itself!" He chided. "Now drink. At a pace."

Penny obeyed, gulping the warm liquid down, little by little. "Where's Alijah?" She asked.

"I have no idea. After I had some water I went looking for him, but there was no sign." He said. "But he's probably fine," Quincy reassured himself, "Probably all ready at Las Vegas, waiting for us at some casino."

"Or he could be somewhere in the desert, dying of dehydration."

"Oh, he's half god for pity's sake. He'll make it." Quincy murmured.

Penny looked up at Quincy. "Sure." She gathered her strength and lifted herself off the ground. She stumbled slightly, Quincy catching her before she fell hard.

"Take it easy, chick." Quincy smiled. "You should probably Get some lighter clothes on. It helps."

Penny looked at him suspiciously as his arm extended, revealing a white shirt.

"Don't worry." he chided, "I won't look." He gave Penny the shirt and walked behind the wall of the plane. She quickly changed into the cooler clothes, and walked out to Quincy, who was lounging lazily against the hot metal. She caught a glance of something in the distance.

About a dozen rectangles of disturbed dirt were lying next to each other. "None of them survived." Quincy stated. "All taken care of..." he murmured to himself.

Penny looked at his face and quickly looked back down to the ground. "Did our weapons survive?" She asked.

"Amazingly, yes." Quincy said quickly, glad that the tension was finally broken. Together they walked to the other side of the plane, remaining silent. The reached the shaded part of the wreckage where Quincy took Penny's duffel bag out. He handed her the bag, which she opened anxiously, searching amongst her clothes. She finally pulled out her dual katanas, or what was left of them. Both had been broken in half during the crash, and Penny let loose with a series of curse words not suitable for the telling of this story.

"At least you have ninjakens now." Quincy chuckled.

"Shut your face, Dean." Penny said, growing angry.

"Wow. When are you not on your period?" Quincy retorted.

Penny tensed and then finally loosened. She turned slowly back toward Quincy. "Seeing as how you saved my life, I'll spare your's Dean, but just this once. Understood, Dean?" Her eyes narrowed threateningly. Quincy raised his hands in surrender.

"Whenever you're ready, we'll make for Las Vegas." Quincy said.

"And how do you know where Las Vegas is, Dean?" Penny asked.

"Well, first you calculate the distance travelled before the attack, then you calculate the speed and height of the plane prior to the attack, then calculate how far off course the plane flew during the attack and how long it took to-"

"Okay," Penny interrupted, " You're a genius." she gasped sarcastically.

"Yes I am." Quincy beamed, "And I'll bet your pretty Apollo boy couldn't do that."

"No, but he could probably just get his dad to come and pick us up." Penny remarked. She slid on her leather jacket and gloves.

"You'll do better without those." Quincy said, "The sun'll take you down twice as fast."

Penny gave Quincy a sneer. "This is my grandfathers jacket. He was in World War II, and this," she said angrily, flapping the leather jacket around, "Was his lucky jacket. He gave it to me when I was eight, weeks before he died."

"I'm sorry," Quincy apologised, "I was just trying to help."

"Yeah, well, thank you, but no thank you."

She angrily grabbed her duffel bag, as Quincy gathered his backpack. The two started their long walk off to Las Vegas.

...

Alijah awoke to searing heat and an angry pain. He laid down, his face against the hot dirt. opening one eye, he looked around as heat waves warped and waned his vision. He tried to pick himself up, but he found that all his strength had been soaked away by the sun. His wounds seemed to pull him back down, throbbing toward the earth. He fell down again without giving it much of a fight, only finding the strength to roll over and face the brunt if the heat. He looked at the clear blue sky, with only dark silhouettes of buzzards breaking the constant sky.

...

"Maybe... Hephaestus?" Penny guessed.

"Nope." Quincy breathed. "I have absolutely no skill with any sort of metal. But, er there was this one guy, William Bones, back in the army. He could make little tin soldier guys that actually moved. They would dance and all that type of thing. He was a good guy."

"What happened to him?" Penny asked.

"What happened to a lot of the guys on the titan's side."

Penny fell quiet.

"Anyway, keep on guessing." Quincy said.

"Um..." Penny muttered as her mind raced, "Maybe... Athena."

Quincy laughed exhaustively. "Oh, please. I may be super smart, but I'm not blonde and grey-eyed." He said, shuffling his brown hair.

"You don't have to be." Penny argued.

"Actually, I think you do."

"Fine then. Is it... Apollo?" Penny said grinning.

Quincy turned around and started walking backwards, "I hope, for your sake, that you're joking." Penny laughed. "I'm serious!" Quincy cried.

"Oh, well, y'know, you could be the son of Apollo. Because you're so bright!" Penny erupted in laughter, bending over and holding her belly.

"That is one of the worst puns I have ever heard." Quincy said bluntly.

"You need to lighten up!" She bursted into laughter again.

"Seriously?" Quincy frowned, "We don't have time for this."

Penny fell to the floor of the desert, gasping for breath.

"All right, the sun is seriously taking it's toll on you." Quincy said. "And I am not carrying you, so either sober up or I'm leaving you."

Penny gasped for breath as she righted herself. She walked on with a smile on her face and a giggle in her throat. She caught up to Quincy and the two walked in silence for a while longer.

"I got a question." Quincy said, breaking the ice, "What on earth does that Carl guy have that is so appealing?"

"You mean other than the fact that he's handsome, charming, sweet, and funny?"

"Yeah. Besides all that."

"He can sing."

Quincy raised an eyebrow. "Singing? That's what turns girls on?"

"Yep."

"Even Ares kids? Aren't you all a bunch of metal heads?"

Penny rolled her eyes, "Just because we have violent tendencies doesn't mean we have to live by them. My favorite song is 'Baby'."

"Whoa-whoa-whoa, wait a minute! Bieber? You like freakin' Bieber? That is..."

"And Carl sings it to me all the time." Penny smiled dreamily, thinking back.

Quincy grimaced. "There is nothing I can say right now that describes my horror."

"Oh, it's so romantic when he brings out his guitar..."

"Stop!" Quincy pleaded, "I'm sorry I brought up the entire subject!"

"And then when he takes his shirt off-"

"Hey, how about this crazy weather we're having?" Quincy said in a loud voice, trying desperately to change the subject. "It's like, two-hundred degrees, am I right?"

Penny started laughing. "Yeah." she said as she wiped her head, "It's hot out here, Dean. I thought you said we were close to Las Vegas."

"Did I? I don't recall saying anything like that."

"When do you think we'll get there? I'm tired." Penny complained.

"Oh, and here I was thinking that Ares kids were tough." Quincy joked.

Penny gave a soft chuckle, "Please. I can take you any day. Take yesterday for example. If it weren't for Alijah you would've been in the infirmary for months. I can promise you that."

"You caught me on surprise. I wasn't exactly ready, but I think I did well considering the circumstances."

"Just keep telling yourself that, Dean." Penny sighed.

Quincy squinted at the horizon. "Hey... what are those things you get when you're in the desert?"

"Sunburns?"

"No, when you see things that aren't real."

"Oh, you mean mirages?" Penny guessed.

Quincy nodded. "Yeah, I have a mirage, because it looks amazingly like a highway over there, right?"

Penny traced Quincy's eyes to the far distance, seeing dark forms squiggle across the heat waved plain. "I see it too." She stated, "I don't think people see mirages in pairs, do they?"

"No..." Quincy agreed.

"So that means it's real?"

"Maybe..." Quincy slurred, "Shall we saunter on over there?"

The two struggled to the road as cars rushed passed at an amazing pace. Quincy did what came to his mind first and lifted his thumb. Cars whizzed by with out a second thought, leaving a trail of hot methane behind.

"That's not working, Dean." Penny pointed out.

"Well what do you expect me to do?" Quincy asked.

Penny grinned. "I don't expect you to do anything." She said. "All I have to do is wait for the perfect prey."

"Right." Quincy said.

...

Hours passed as Quincy found a comfortable spot and sat there. The sun had begun setting, cooling the roasting countryside. Penny stood next to the road, peering over the succession of cars rushing ahead.

"Aha!" She murmured. "Watch and learn, Dean, watch and learn." Penny said. She stood tall, puffing out her chest and pulling her collar down so that you could see cleavage. She put one hand on her hip and the other raising her thumb. A low-rider slowed and pulled over before Penny. The driver, a young guy, got out of the drivers side door, smiling.

"Hey, girl, you lookin' for a ride?" He asked.

Penny gave a flirty stare and bit her lip. "Uh-huh. Would you being willing?" She winked. The young guy smiled uncontrollably, a hungry glint in his eyes. He rushed to the other side of the car and opened the passenger door. Penny slunk over to the guy and put her hand on the back of his neck, drawing him closer to her. Quincy saw the young guy whisper something to Penny, who came closer to his face, but in a quick move, thrust his head into the open door, rendering him unconscious. "No." She said in a disgusted tone. She looked back to Quincy, who was staring. "Are you going to stand there slack-jawed all afternoon or are you going to help me tie this guy up?" She asked. Quincy nodded and walked cautiously over to her.

"'Violent tendencies', huh?" Quincey asked.

"It's hereditary. Now, do you have any rope or something?"

"I got duct tape!" Quincy said with a smile, unzipping his backpack.

"Perfect." Penny said grinning.

...

Night was drawing close. Penny was at the wheel of her new lowrider and loving it. She lounged in her seat as she drove, while Quincy took a nap in air-conditioned comfort.

"Hey." She said boldly, waking Quincy, "Is our generous car donor awake yet?" Quincy looked behind him at the sleeping guy, who was wrapped in duct tape.

"Nope. Still asleep." Quincy yawned, stretching his arms. "So. Where'd you learn that last move?"

Penny smiled. "Sun Tzu, added with a little bit of Odysseus." She said. "'Beware of Greeks bearing gifts.'" She recited as if it were her motto.

Quincy mumbled a quiet compliment before leaning back against the seat and falling back to sleep quietly.

* * *

**(A/N: I'm terribly sorry for the long wait for this chapter. I had some things come up and I didn't get the chance to even get on the computer for a while. I had a lot of fun with this chapter. In fact, maybe too much fun? Anyways, please review this! I need feedback to write even more and to write even better! Thank you.)**


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six

The lowrider pulled into a gas station, exhausted. Quincy looked over at Penny, who was sound asleep in the seat next to him, breathing lightly. Quincy thought about yelling at Penny to get up, but decided against it.

He gently reached down to her shoulder and pressed it gently, however, before any other thought passed through his head, Penny's hand sprung up to Quincy's, twisting it in an uncomfortable position.

"Don't touch me, Dean." Penny said grumpily.

"Okay! Okay! No touchie!" Quincy yelped in pain, "Now let go!"

Penny slowly let go her grip on Quincy's wrist. He reeled back in his chair, massaging his twisted shoulder.

"Where are we?" Penny asked. She rubbed her eyes and peered through the dirty window.

"Las Vegas. Where else?" Quincy said.

"Wow..." Penny marveled, "It's beautiful."

"Doesn't smell that beautiful, chick. Smells like gasoline and bird doo-doo."

"Don't ruin the moment, Dean!" Penny scolded.

Quincy paused for one or two seconds before speaking again. "Well, I'm tired, and I want to sleep, so if you could find us the nearest motel, I would be thankful."

Penny rolled her eyes and switched seats with Quincy, driving to the nearest place to sleep in, a bed and breakfast place called "The Eat'n Beat", a quaint little apartment building that was refurbished. Penny pulled up, woke Quincy with a shove, and rented two rooms, as Penny thought that the drive over to the city was enough time with Quincy. The two shuffled into their rooms and fell fast asleep.

...

That night, Quincy dreamed he was a spotlight, surrounding him were twelve faces, but they appeared to be more like masks, made in ancient Greece for the theater.

"'Tis a pity, children. This one will do so much, and yet, be not known." A booming voice came, surrounding Quincy's body.

"Great things he accomplished in his short life. It is a shame he could not go on. He could've become greater than your own son, uncle." A sweet melodious voice rang.

"Spare me." A gravelly voice vibrated in. "He could not even come close to my son."

"He did almost beat him in that game our children play." Another female voice rose.

"Luck. Purely luck, I tell you. This boy is terribly ambitious. I would be amazed if he could've lived beyond his lifeline." The gravely replied.

"That is beyond the point, brother." The thunderous voice returned. "He will do us great service while he lives, and that is all that matters."

Quincy spoke. "What do you mean? What is this?" He cried, "Am I going to die?"

The question lingered in the air like a stench.

"Not yet." The thunderous voice boomed. His words rang in Quincy's ear.

...

Quincy awoke, a sweat covering his body and air rushing in and out of his lungs. The door to his room sounded a quick knock before Penny walked into the room.

"Good morning, Dean. Nice sleep?" She smiled.

Quincy glared at her.

"What time is it, chick?" He asked.

"Oh, about ten. I guess you needed your beauty sleep."

"Has Alijah shown up yet?" Quincy asked. Penny gave him a funny look.

"Alijah's still out in the desert somewhere. You left him, Quincy." Penny said.

Quincy looked down at the white blankets surrounding him. "We'll find him." He said finally.

"He might be dead by now..."

"We'll. Find. Him." Quincy stared back up at Penny.

"I'll get you some food." Penny said quickly. She quickly stepped out the door, closing it behind her. A knock proceeded quickly after.

"Already?" Quincy asked himself. The door opened again, but penny was not there. Instead stood a beautiful woman, not exactly an exotic beauty, but still beautiful. She had light brown hair and dark eyes. her skin was as white as fallen snow, and the look on her face was that of concern.

"Quincy. Your friend is at the hospital. You must hurry. You are being hunted by more than one foe. Hurry. The General hospital."

Quincy wanted to ask her who she was, but she quickly fled out the door.

"Wait!" He managed to spout out. The door slammed behind her. Much to Quincy's surprise, it opened again, revealing Penny, holding a platter of food.

"Dean?" She asked, concerned. "It looks like you just got hit in the face with a polka-dotted elephant. Are you okay?"

"The hospital!" Quincy said as he jumped out of the bed and forced his shoes on, "Alijah's at the hospital. Let's go." He jumped beside her and ran down the stairs.

"Dean!" Penny yelled behind him. "Do you know how many hospitals there are in this town?"

"Let's go!" Quincy repeated, running out the door.

_A/N. So terribly sorry it's been so long. I've been so caught up in this school thing that I haven't even had time to remember about this story. It took the motion picture to remind me I had a story to keep on doing. Remember to give me suggestions!_


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